


Bubblegum Girl

by pyrexprodigy



Category: Vocaloid
Genre: Bullying, Eating Disorders, F/M, Underage Drinking, Unhealthy Relationships, everything is screwed up, parental pressure, talk of cheating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-25
Updated: 2015-03-25
Packaged: 2018-03-19 12:54:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3610794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pyrexprodigy/pseuds/pyrexprodigy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>His bubblegum girl was sweet as sugar and pretty as a rose.</p><p>Miku/Dell</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Dell had never been a huge fan of gum. When he tried to stop smoking, gum was one of the things a friend suggested to him. But it was too sweet for him. And what was the point of it? You just kept chewing it and chewing it and nothing happened. Not until you either popped another piece into your mouth or spat the wad of used gum out somewhere. Or, if you were a jackass , you stuck it to the underside of a table. Dell never claimed to be a good person, but at least he didn't do  _that._

So maybe he was never a fan of gum. But he certainly was a fan of Miku Hatsune. Kids at school called her Bubblegum Girl because of her liking for pink and her bubbly, sweet attitude. He thought the name fit her in all honesty, despite his dislike for bubblegum and gum in general. But he could get over his childish, picky attitude to admit that.

Miku was the Bubblegum Girl. And she would one day be his Bubblegum Girl, though he didn't yet know it.

* * *

Dell remembered the first time they had been properly introduced. He had heard the name Miku Hatsune before then, of course. Not only was the girl an up-and-coming model, but she was popular within the school. Students idolized her and teachers put her on a pedestal that no one else would ever be able to occupy. And even though Dell was supposed to be this rebel kid who hated life and everyone else who breathed, he couldn't hate Miku, even before he met her. Somehow, she seemed so genuine when other people just weren't.

But despite this, Dell couldn't bring himself to admit this outright. So he put on that face that showed how distasteful he found the world and ignored the Bubblegum Girl everyone was talking about. Until that special day in February, when Miku said her first words to him.

Dell could remember that day well, especially the weather. A cloudy day, with a high chance of more snow and a blistering wind Dell wouldn't have suffered through for anything. Except maybe a smoke.

So why was stupid Miku outside, then, too? Especially during school. Miku wasn't the sort to skip, not even once. But suddenly there she was, in all of her adorable glory, with a look on her face Dell wouldn't expect. She was stern, a crease in her brow no one ever really saw there. The Bubblegum Girl was not amused, and it seemed that whatever was wrong was because of Dell.

"You shouldn't smoke."

Her first words to him. Rude, but then again Miku was outgoing. Exuberant, almost. Dell wasn't surprised that she would be so forceful.

However, he was surprised that she was talking to him at all. Popular Miku Hatsune, right in front of Dell Honne, exchanging words? A laughable idea. Still…

She was there. Up close and in person. And what exactly was her problem, anyway?

"I got the lecture from my mom, kid. I don't need it from you," Dell blew out a cloud of smoke. Miku wrinkled her nose.

"I'm not that much younger than you, Dell. That being said, do you really think it's a good idea to poison yourself with those things? After all, you aren't much older than me," Miku stated.

"Thanks for the public service announcement," Dell replied sarcastically. "I couldn't care less."

"Well, before you decide to pollute your lungs, at least take a moment to consider all the other people around you. You're on school grounds, for goodness sake!"

Dell was a bit shocked by how intensely she was arguing her point. Most people just shot him dirty looks and moved on. But not Miku. No, she just had to be involved in his business. It was annoying. She was so annoying.

"Good observation, Sherlock. If it bothers you, you can leave," Dell looked at her pointedly, taking a long drag on his cigarette. He hadn't been smoking long and wasn't completely used to it, so he almost choked on the long breath he was drawing out.

"And shouldn't you be in class?" Miku asked, ignoring what he had just said completely.

"Same to you, princess," Dell said. "What would all those kids looking up to you think of this behavior?"

His sarcasm wasn't missed by Miku, who sent him a look that could only be described as annoyance.

"I'll go to class when you do. Until then, I'm not moving from this spot."

"Are you serious?"

The look on her face was all the answer he needed.

"Oh my God," Dell muttered, dropping his lit cigarette and smashing it under his shoe. "Just go away, you stupid girl. I'm going."

"Good! And don't skip class again," Miku commanded, true to her word as she waited for him to leave.

Dell couldn't help feeling like something very important had just happened. And he was completely right.

The following day, when Dell showed up to his English class for the first time since the second week of school, he could see Miku's smiling face as she waved in greeting. Turning his back on her, he slid his late note onto his surprised teacher's desk and went to sit in his seat. From then on, it seemed to be Miku's duty to check in on him and make sure he was showing up for class.

At some point, the girl got ahold of his phone number. He would never tell anyone, but in his contacts, he saved her as Bubblegum Girl.

* * *

Their second year of high school came a lot quicker than Dell ever thought it would. Again, there was Miku, in the spotlight as she had been before, though suddenly Bubblegum Girl was dragging him with her. Yes, he had stopped smoking because of her, and he was back in class every single day (despite how much he wished he wasn't), but they were by no means friends in his eyes. To Miku, though, it was a friendship waiting to happen. Dell would like her, no matter what. After all, she was a liable person.

Suddenly, Miku was everywhere. At his locker, walking outside with him after school before parting to her own car with a smiling mother, right by his elbow at lunch as she snacked on her food. He didn't even see her coming half the time. She was just there, occupying so much space that he couldn't simply ignore her anymore.

And what did her friends think of this?

Well, they were a lot more supportive than Dell would have ever guessed.

Even Len Kagamine, an attractive blond boy who everyone knew would end up dating Miku before graduation, seemed fine with this recent development.

Dell seemed to be alone when it came to this weird thing Miku was trying to do. What was her problem? He had been wondering it since that first day she had approached him, but never had his question been answered. He wasn't sure it would ever be answered.

But he was once again wrong. In the spring of tenth grade, all was revealed, and Dell couldn't lie anymore. He couldn't pretend that whatever this was hadn't affected him. Miku was infectious now. She was a part of his life, even if it was a small part.

The smell of bubblegum and the color pink would never leave him again.

* * *

"I love you."

Dell froze. Miku wasn't someone who shied away from bursts of affection. Saying things like "I like you" and "I love you" weren't so taboo to her. She hugged and kissed people openly and acted as though she had enough love for the entire world. To Dell, a closed-off individual, such things were against every single one of his personal laws. But now he was a part of this. He was one of Miku's "love ones."

"Good to hear," Dell replied as casually as possible while internally screaming. "If you're looking for affection, go bug Teto or something. I don't do cuddling."

Miku didn't seem fazed. To be honest, the way she stood so stoically next to him was unnerving. There, in the quiet library after school, where they were the only ones, Dell could hear his own heartbeat in the silence. It was a panic attack waiting to happen.

"I love you," she repeated. "Really love."

"Funny. Are you going to help me study or not?" he asked, brushing aside whatever it was she was trying to say.

"I'm serious, Dell. I love you," she stated. "You may be emotionally constipated, but I'm going for this. I love you."

"Quit saying that," Dell ordered. "I'll never be able to tell whether or not you're being serious if you do stuff like this."

"You can't tell anyway, sweetie," Miku replied. Dell winced mentally at the nickname. "Come on, I'll kiss you and prove it."

This conversation was heading into dangerous territory now. Dell was more than uncomfortable with what was going on. Couldn't Miku see that? Why couldn't she just drop it?

"You kiss everyone," Dell pointed out.

"On the cheeks. You know, that's a greeting in some countries," Miku told him, leaning back against the table. She was still looking down at him, but only just. At her height, Dell was barely shorter than her sitting down.

"We aren't kissing," Dell said forcefully.

"Well, if I kiss you,  _we_  technically aren't," Miku argued lightly.

"This really isn't funny, Miku. April Fool's Day already passed."

A smile sprung up on Miku's face and she was leaning in now.

"It's not a joke, Dell. Come on, let's go on a date. My treat, if that's what it takes."

Dell nearly passed out when she kissed him. But that was just another thing he would never admit.


	2. Chapter 2

Dell and Miku were two names you rarely heard in different sentences nowadays. They were close, they were happy, and above all, one of them was Miku Hatsune, up-and-coming model and school idol. But this is where the problems started. The problems Dell never suspected, even for a moment, would ruin everything beautiful they had built up.

After graduation, Miku was instantly snatched up by an agency, while Dell chose the college route, a decision no one had ever expected from him. Miku couldn't have been prouder and Dell couldn't have been happier. It was nice. It was so, so nice, especially after his life in high school and how difficult everything had been before graduation. But now he was living with the girl of his dreams, his Bubblegum Girl who was as sweet as sugar and pretty as a rose. And she was happy, too.

Or was she?

* * *

Unknown to Dell, Miku Hatsune had been pressured from a young age to be perfect. She was the idol, the shining star of the Hatsune family, and the doll of the mother who didn't seem to actually love her. While the aging beauty queen sent onlookers friendly smiles, she pressed that threatening knife into Miku's back; a warning that if she didn't perform favorably, there would be no room left for her in the Hatsune household.

So Miku became a perfect girl. She was kind and pretty and the sort of person everyone loved. She modeled for popular magazines and she maintained her beauty, the fear that if she tripped up even a bit constantly nagging at her.

There are all kinds of abuse. At Dell's house, the abuse was outright and physical. Neither of them could count the times he had come to school hiding bruises or a potential broken bone. But whatever Miku's mother was doing to her, while not physical and direct, was certainly damaging and most definitely abuse.

It was unfortunate for Miku that no such thing as perfect existed, however, because that made the abuse even worse.

For her twelfth birthday, Miku received a Barbie doll, a diet book, and more cosmetic supplies than she knew what to deal with. Soon after, she took the hint and lost all of ten pounds. She had always been a tiny little thing, but after that, Miku was even smaller and perhaps weaker than she had been before. But her mother was happy with her for the time being, and that's all that mattered.

In eighth grade, a little over a year later, Miku encountered her first bully. Beforehand, she had gone to a school of very kind people, kids who had grown up together and understood each other. In middle school, though, when people moved around, some of those kind kids were replaced by the nasty sort, the kids who thought it was funny to throw textbooks into puddles and watch their victims splatter themselves with mud as they fished out their books. But bullying in middle school isn't that docile. Miku could deal with events like the textbooks. What she couldn't deal with was a badly drawn picture of herself with the words  _Ugly fat skank_  written across it.

Even worse, when she told her mother, the woman looked her up and down and proceeded to say "Well, you could stand to lose a couple pounds."

So Miku Hatsune was back on a diet and out to prove a few immature kids that she was most definitely not fat. Or ugly. And she certainly wasn't a skank, whatever that was.

Those kids were stupid, she decided but she couldn't lie and say what they had said hadn't gotten to her.

Skip past middle school, and Miku was doing much better. She was slim and beautiful and popular. Her job as a model was steady and seemed to please her mother enough that there were no more extreme diets or sudden family fallouts because of Miku's weight. Why did that concern her whole family, anyway? It shouldn't. It just… It shouldn't.

Miku figured her dad was a huge part of how stable things had been lately. After quitting his job when she was in eighth grade, he was home a lot more and saw how his daughter and wife interacted. Before, he hadn't been around to witness exactly how his wife treated Miku, though he did have some idea of how controlling she was. But now the problem was up close and personal, right in his face and impossible to ignore. So her father took some initiative and calmed her mother down.

Until the end of Miku's third year in high school, when he left. Just up and left. There wasn't any explanation, but Miku could guess why he'd leave. But couldn't he have taken Miku with him? Because now, poor Miku was stuck with her mother, who now had free reign over her daughter. You can only guess what happened.

It was only in her final year of high school that things got really, really bad. And it was only when she and Dell got their own place after graduation that he noticed anything.

* * *

Dell would honestly say that the year after graduation was probably the best in his life. Living with a full-time model wasn't easy, but Miku made a point of trying to make it as easy as possible. He could tell by the little things she did to make it so he had as little interaction with her job as possible. Dell was proud of her and he was glad she was doing what she wanted to do, but he would never understand modeling. She wouldn't be young forever, after all. What would she do after that?

Dell never asked. He understood that modeling had always been a hard thing for her, especially with her pushy mother around. Now that she didn't live with that woman, Dell decided he'd never bring up his doubts about her career.

Dell never knew very much about Miku's mother, and he knew even less about her father. The few times Dell met Mrs. Hatsune, the woman had spent most of the time glaring at him and whispering to her husband, who set his jaw and ignored whatever it was she had said to him. According to Miku, her mother had never really supported their relationship. Like everyone else, she thought of Dell as a delinquent, which was actually incorrect because aside from underage smoking and one instance of underage drinking, Dell had never committed a crime. But Dell put up with it. It would probably just stress out Miku if he started a feud with her mother.

But now he didn't have to think about it. They were both away from their parents. They would never have to interact with them unless they wanted to. So Dell was happy, even if the future was unpredictable and even a bit frightening.

But maybe that was the problem. Maybe he didn't notice what was going on with Miku because he was so wrapped up in how perfect everything supposedly was at the time. It was easy to make excuses when everything seemed fine. Why wasn't Miku eating at lunch? Simple; she was on a new diet and the restaurant they were at only served a few options for her. She was allergic to all of them, anyway, so the fact that she had only gotten a water made perfect sense. But why was she taking so long in the bathroom? That was easy, too. She had the flu. Obviously. Why else would she be throwing up?

But why was it that when Miku took her shirt off, Dell could see her ribs?

He couldn't make any excuses by that point.

* * *

Dell had been ignoring the issue for weeks when he finally brought it up at breakfast. He hadn't slept well the night before, thinking about how he would approach the topic. Would he ease into it? Would he just say what he thought was wrong straight out? How would he word it? Would he let Miku defend herself?

Of course he would. He loved her, after all, and he wanted them to come through this. If she had some explanation, some reason  _why_ , he'd be willing to listen.

"Miku," he began as he slid a plate of toast in front of her. It was always toast with Miku. No butter, just a thin spread of honey.

"Yes?" Miku asked, glancing up from her computer. She usually spent breakfast answering emails she had gotten overnight. She got a lot, too, it seemed.

"I, um," he said less than eloquently. "It's just… Do you want to go to dinner tonight? It's been a while since we've been somewhere really nice. Do you remember that place with the steak you like?"

"You know I can't eat something like that on my diet," Miku replied gently. She was always so calm when reminding him, never really flaunting the fact that she was on yet another diet.

"It's okay to indulge every once in a while," Dell pointed out. "When was the last time you enjoyed something that wasn't part of your diet?"

Miku was silent, thinking. Dell took that to mean she couldn't remember the last time she had done that.

"So you want to go? I don't have classes tonight," Dell said, sitting down across form her at their little table, his ages still far too hot to eat.

"I can't do tonight. I have an event planned," Miku stated. He could tell she had obviously had the answer ready when he first brought it up from the speed of her reply.

"Well, maybe some other time." He was nervous now. He last ditch attempt to prove his suspicions wrong had failed. Now, he had to give in. He was right.

There were several moments of silence, broken only by the crunch of Miku's toast and the scrape of Dell's fork on his plate. He couldn't say it. He just couldn't. He-

"Miku, do you have an eating disorder?"

Well, at least he figured out how to say it.

Miku dropped her toast back onto her plate, staring up at him over her computer screen.

"What?" she asked.

"I said," Dell swallowed and ignored the uncomfortable feeling stewing in his stomach, "do you have an eating disorder?"

Miku laughed as though it were a mildly amusing joke. "What would make you think that?" she asked, not at all flustered by the question.

"I… It's just, you rarely eat anymore," Dell said. "All I ever see you eat is that toast, and even then you only finish half of what you're given."

Mikuk wasn't laughing anymore. She had her serious face on, as though she was actually listening to him.

"I'm at work a lot of the time," Miku told him. "I eat there. I thought you knew that."

Dell took a long time to reply. At least she wasn't getting angry. He knew that some people could get angry when people asked about problems they thought they had hidden or they didn't want to admit to having. His parents were a perfect example of that. He couldn't remember the times that he had confronted their individual addictions and had gotten a smack upside the head for his troubles. Eventually, he had learned not to bring it up.

"Miku, you know you can talk to me about this. I know you're not telling the truth," Dell said gently. He just had to stay calm. If the two of them could stay calm, then this conversation would remain as adult as possible.

"Are you calling me a liar now?" Miku demanded. He fingers were frozen right above her keys, the tapping of her typing out her emails long gone.

"No, that's not what I mean," Dell assured quickly. "I just mean… I know you've been having problems lately. With food, that is. And you can to me if you need help. Or if you'd rather talk to someone else, we can do that, too."

Miku wasn't replying. Dell was getting more anxious by the minute. She wasn't saying anything. Oh God, she wasn't saying anyth-

"There's nothing wrong, Dell," Miku stated, setting her jaw in the same way her father would when he heard something unpleasant. "I'm fine, you know."

Dell hated this conversation. He knew it wasn't going to be easy, but now that it was actually going on, he couldn't imagine anything worse.

"You're not fine," he said forcefully. "Something is wrong. Don't pretend it's okay. You haven't been eating properly lately, and I've heard you throwing up in the bathroom after-"

"I had the flu, Dell! What do you expect from the flu?" Miku interrupted. "Don't be so insecure. You're just looking for things to go wrong, aren't you?"

Dell understood that she was lashing out, but it hurt all the same. He was trying to be so sure of himself and what was going on and she was throwing things like that at him. He had never been very good at managing his temper. He was trying, though. He really was. He wouldn't let this turn into a fight.

"The flu doesn't last for months, Miku," he said in a low voice, trying to hide how hurt he was. "Something's wrong. Just let me help you."

Miku closed her laptop with a snap before standing, ignoring what he had just said. Dell was surprised and it took him a moment to think of what to say.

"Don't run away from this!" Dell told her firmly, following her to their bedroom, where she promptly slammed the door in his face. "Miku, come on. You're being unreasonable."

"Go away," Miku's order was muffled by the closed door. "You're wrong. You're always looking for reasons not to get close to someone. It's not my fault you have intimacy issues."

Dell froze with his forehead presses against the door. She was right, actually, but he never imagined she would use  _that_  against him. And that was definitely not what this was about. If it was about intimacy issues, he'd use this as an excuse to leave her. But he wasn't. He wanted to help her. Why couldn't Miku see that?

"That isn't what this is about," Dell called through the door. "I know that there's a lot of stress with your job to be thin, and I know that your mother-"

The door flew open and Miku was glaring up at him from her much shorter height. Dell had to leap back to make sure he didn't get hit as the door opened.

"You know nothing," she hissed. "Drop it."

"I just want you to be okay," Dell said. "I want you to be able to get help if you need it."

Miku ignored his heartfelt words. "You're always looking for problems," she replied coldly. "Sorry to disappoint you with a perfect relationship, but I'm not going to pretend I have a problem because you're afraid of being happy."

The door slammed shut again and Dell was left staring at the white expanse of wood in awe. Miku had never said something like that to him. Sure, they had their little fights, but they were both reasonable people and could reach some form of resolution. Something that would satisfy them both and leave them better off than they were before. But this…

Dell hadn't expected Miku to be so cruel.

  



	3. Chapter 3

Dell came home after his final class let out to find an empty house. Miku did have a job, after all, and she typically got home later than him, but being alone after that fight in such a familiar place filled with everything that had to do with Miku… It was overwhelming. He had to get out.

Dell set his bag in the living room and headed out as he was. Maybe he could find someone to hang out with. Someone who could make him feel better about this whole situation.

Ever since he and Miku had become friends, he had started to interact with more and more people. Now, he could actually say he had healthy friendships, some he shared with Miku. In fact, he actually had a best friend, though he had moved away after graduating.

But one person who was always available was Megumi Megpoid. Gumi, for short. Gumi was a funny, exuberant girl and he liked her very much. She should be out of her last class right about now, too.

As Dell left is apartment, he called Gumi, who picked up immediately. Though she didn't understand why he suddenly wanted to hang out, she agreed to meet him at their favorite bar. Dell didn't drink, apart from one instance when he was fifteen (part of the reason why he didn't drink, actually), and legally couldn't, anyway. But some of his friends were old enough to, so it had become their place.

He met Gumi outside. She was wearing her typical, lazy outfit. Just jeans and a t-shirt with some sort of graphic on it. This one had the logo of some company Dell hadn't heard of before. Then again, a lot of her t-shirts did.

"What's up?" Gumi greeted.

"Nothing much. School has been stressful, but that's nothing new," Dell lied. "What about you?"

"Ditto," Gumi replied with a grin. "Good to see you, though. It's been a while."

"No kidding. Let's go," Dell told her. Together, they went inside, where the radio was turned as low as the lights and the voices of many people mixed together to form a mess of conversations Dell could barely catch a word of.

"It's really hot in here," he commented, leaning in close in order to be heard. Gumi grinned up at him.

"So it isn't just me, then," she replied. "You're paying, since you dragged me here."

"You don't mind," Dell argued. Neither did he, to be honest, but their playful banter was probably the best part of their friendship.

"Not the point," Gumi waved aside his protest. "I'll pay next time."

Dell scoffed. "Sure. I definitely believe that," he replied sarcastically.

It was nice to be in this environment with his friend. Suddenly, he was far less stressed out, though he knew he was just putting off the next inevitable fight. But his head was a mess and staying at home would only make everything worse.

He was lucky to have so many friends now. He could rely on people like Gumi to just be there, even if it meant they didn't do anything. It was nice. And it was all because of Miku, really, though at the moment he was doing his best to avoid any thought of her whatsoever. Had he grown up at all since high school? Running away from his problems was something he thought he was done with.

Dell watched as Gumi picked up their usual drinks at the bar. The bartender, a cute blonde girl, shot him a smile and a wave. They were regulars and she knew him by face at least, though he wasn't sure if she had ever caught his name.

Dell drank root beer. He didn't care what anyone thought; he wasn't going to drink anything alcoholic and the drink came from a local place, too. He had gotten over being embarrassed and peer pressure didn't work on him anymore.

Gumi passed him his drink as she weaved through the crowd. She had found him at a table in the corner, where she also sat as she set her own drink aside, climbing into the chair, adjusting her skirt as she did.

"Still working at the library?" Dell asked. It was a poor attempt at making conversation, but he knew that Gumi loved talking about the library so he doubted she'd notice.

"The university library? Yeah, but it's more of a volunteer position," Gumi clarified. "Volunteer work is part of my scholarship."

"Weird scholarship," Dell commented.

"Pays the bills," Gumi shrugged, obviously not worried. "Free housing and all that."

"That's what you get for being a genius," Dell stated in a teasing way. Gumi grinned at him and sipped at her drink. He doubted it was alcoholic since it wasn't a weekend, but otherwise Dell couldn't guess what she had gotten.

"I can never tell when you're insulting me or flirting with me," Gumi told him.

"Insulting. Definitely."

Gumi laughed. "I'm that repulsive?"

"And more."

With a smirk, Gumi sipped at her drink again. "Good for you I won't be telling Miku. She'd be devastated."

Gumi was kidding, of course. But any mention of Miku made his blood run cold. If her name could do that to him, than what would their next confrontation be like?

"Hey? You okay?" Gumi flicked him in the side of the head, startling him out of a trance he had been completely unaware of. "You look a bit trodden."

"Don't go using big words that don't make any sense in that context," Dell accused, batting at her hand.

"Oh, I thought you had died momentarily or something," Gumi told him, reflexively drawing back her hand.

"How does one die momentarily?" Dell asked.

Gumi shrugged. "Maybe it's when-"

She was interrupted by the voice of one Miku Hatsune. Dell nearly fell out of his chair when he heard her.

"You jerk!"

Bewildered, Dell and Gumi stared at Miku with the same awed expression. The girl's voice was very high pitched, the way it got when she was extremely angry. The kind of angry that only happened after some upperclassman slammed Dell's hand in the door. Dell had given him a black eye for it, but that didn't seem to make Miku feel any better about the situation.

"What are you doing here?" Dell demanded. "You told me you were working."

"It's not important!" People were staring now. A beautiful, stylish girl yelling often drew attention, especially the unwanted kind. "What's important is the fact that you're cheating on me with  _her!_ "

Dell shot Gumi a look and read an obvious statement in her eyes. Sure, they did flirt a lot, but cheating was certainly taking it far. The thought had never even crossed Dell's mind. Being with Gumi, especially behind Miku's back? Was she serious?

"What are you talking about?" Gumi asked. "We're not-"

"Don't lie to me!" Miku shouted at her. "Bitch! How long has this been going on?"

"Miku," Dell replied, standing up. The crowd was now moving to form a circle around them, watching as the fight began. "I don't understand what's going on. We're just friends, honestly."

Miku looked furious, though Dell couldn't tell if she was acting or not. Was this just an excuse to break up with him? After the events of that morning, Dell didn't doubt it. If Miku was going this far to deny everything Dell had confronted her about, then she really did have a more serious problem than he had suspected. She was confirming her problems by denying them further.

"You bastard!" Miku shrieked. "Stay away from me!"

"This is about this morning, isn't it?" Dell demanded. "You're scared because I found out. Is that why you're doing this?"

"I don't want to hear your excuses!" Miku yelled at him, ignoring what he had said completely. "You… You…" Obviously, she couldn't come up with a word strong enough and Dell was simply shocked at her behavior. This was so unlike Miku. She was logical, if a bit exuberant at times.

The blonde bartender appeared at his elbow then, her hand finding its way onto his shoulder.

"If you're going to fight with your girlfriend, please take it outside," she said to him. "I don't mean to be insensitive, but you'll drive away customers."

Dell understood perfectly. Looking over at the fuming Miku, he said, "We're getting kicked out."

Miku glared at him. "So you're blaming me for this, just like everything else?"

_What?_  "You aren't even making sense anymore," Dell replied. "Come on, let's go-"

"I'm not going anywhere with you! I'm done with you!"

Dell was starting to panic now. Was she actually serious about this? She certainly was taking the situation far enough that she seemed so. Was he actually going to lose Miku because of this?

"Miku, please," he said, though he sounded as though he was begging. "We can talk about this at home. Whatever is wrong, we'll talk about it at home."

Miku glared at him fiercely once more before turning and stalking to the door. Dell and Gumi shared another confused look as they followed, the eyes of the crowd following them as they went.

"Nice job, dude. Don't you know you're not supposed to get caught?" a boy in the crowd muttered to him as he passed.

"I'm not cheating on her," Dell replied coldly. "I would never."

"We know, Dell. Ignore them," Gumi whispered, placing her hand on his arm for a moment before Miku could see in an attempt to comfort him.

Once they were outside, Miku didn't stop, and Dell was forced to run after her as she sped away, her long pigtails trailing behind her. It was dark at this point, and it made Dell uncomfortable. Everything about this situation made him uncomfortable.

"Let go of me!" Miku ordered as he caught up to her and grabbed her arm a little harder than he had meant to. "

"Miku, something's wrong with you," Dell replied quickly. "Gumi and I would never dream of doing something like that to you."

Miku yanked her arm out of his grasp as Gumi caught up to them. Instead of addressing Dell, she turned an angry stare on Gumi. "I thought we were friends!" Miku shouted at her. "Harpy!"

Dell was starting to get angry now. "Don't take it out on her because you're scared!" he told Miku firmly. Gumi looked on in wide-eyed silence. "It's not her fault! If anything, it's mine! I'm sorry I didn't notice sooner, but please Miku, don't do this."

"You're right, it is your fault," Miku agreed. "You obviously seduced her."

It took Dell a moment to register the crazy thing she had just said.  _"What?"_

"Why else would my friend do something like this?" Miku demanded. It was a rhetorical question, not that Dell could process or think of long words like "rhetorical" at the moment.

"You're insane," Dell said softly. He hadn't meant to say it out loud, but it was true. At this point, Dell was almost convinced he should drop the subject and let Miku go. Was there really any point in saving their relationship?

"And you're a bastard," Miku replied. "We're through here."

She left. And he let her. He let all of that history they shared, all of those memories and feelings and all of the collective mess of things that he and Miku were walk off with her. Because if she didn't want his help, then she didn't deserve any of those memories. If she was willing to say those things about him in order to protect her secret, then she wasn't the Bubblegum Girl he remembered. She was not as sweet as sugar or as pretty as a rose, and Dell decided he preferred the taste of bubblegum to the taste she had left in his mouth.

And he turned away, too, with Gumi protesting and asking questions in his wake as he left.

* * *

A significant amount of time later, well after Dell had settled back down in a new apartment with his not exactly sweet, incredibly attractive girlfriend, Miku Hatsune popped back into town. After that night, she had gone missing, and no one knew where the Bubblegum Girl had gone. None of her friends had heard from her, none of them had seen her, until that night in April when the doorbell at Dell's apartment rung late at night. On the front step stood a pretty, small woman with a suitcase and nowhere to go.

Dell Honne opened that door and saw her, in all her glory, after two and a half years of nothing. And you know what he did?

He shut the door again. And opened it. And shut it. Until his girlfriend, the blonde bartender from that night, heard the sound and came out of the bedroom bathroom where she had been brushing her teeth. She was just as surprised as him, but unlike Miku was far sweeter. She took Dell's hand off the doorknob and opened the door to see the ex-girlfriend from hell. She herself had witnessed the breakup and knew very well what Dell had gone through. And because she was a bitter and sweeter girl, she opened that door all the way and allowed Miku into their home.

Nothing was said for a long time. Of course, Dell was the first to speak.

"Two and a half years," he stated.

Miku nodded once.

"I'm better now," she told him.

"You should have been better then," he said and left the room.

Lily turned to Miku. "Three nights. You can stay here for three nights and then it's time to move on."

She followed her boyfriend and left the sugar-free Bubblegum Girl standing in the living room with a suitcase in her hand and a head full of chaos.

* * *

The next day, Miku found out Dell was engaged by the ring he had taken off to do the dishes last night. She found out that Gumi had liked him all along while they were dating and never, not once, thought about cheating with Dell. She found out that her father had died in an accident last September. And then she found out that her friends had written her off completely.

And then she cried. For a long time, Miku cried and Lily, who wasn't so much her replacement as an upgraded Bubblegum Girl, gave her tissues and made some coffee. Miku had three sugars in her coffee. Miku was indeed better.

Dell was not.

He sat on the sidelines and watched his Bubblegum Girl and his fiancé together. The way Lily comforted Miku, the way Miku was genuinely sorry and repentant and obviously better, the way that Lily twisted her ring once, twice, thrice, too many times in a nervous way she never seemed to notice.

Miku didn't say one word to him all day and he liked it that way just fine.

* * *

The second day, Gumi arrived at their apartment and promptly slapped Miku across the face before pulling her into a hug and crying. Dell knew it had taken a while for her to build up the courage to come over, especially after she had been so hurt by Miku's accusations. Back then, Gumi had tried so hard to get over her feelings for Dell, to ignore her selfish desires, and to be true to her dear friend. Without knowing it, Miku had made that meaningless. And yet Gumi still loved her friend.

Everyone was sweet but the Bubblegum Girl, it seemed.

* * *

On the third day, Miku left to live with a friend from high school. Teto Kasane was someone Dell was still in contact with and more than happy to have Miku living with her. The two had thought about doing just that before graduation, but that had been before Miku and Dell were so serious. Now, it seemed like their childish dream of living in an apartment with each other was going to be fulfilled. And Dell wouldn't have to deal with Miku ever again.

Except that was incorrect.

Miku Hatsune, much like bubblegum, refused to unstick once she got attached.

* * *

Miku Hatsune worked as a photographer in the city. She was popular, it seemed, and much more suited to things on the other end of the camera. Coincidentally, one of her first jobs was to come into a school and talk about her job to a group of middle school photography students. The student teacher was none other than Dell Honne.

"What happened to microbiology degree?" she asked him as she packed up her laptop and camera.

"It didn't work out," he replied as he left.

* * *

Miku made a point of paying Dell a visit every so often. She just wouldn't leave him alone. She didn't seem to get how much he disliked her and everything she made him remember.

She pissed him off.

She made him want to cry.

She was everything to him and nothing to him at once and it was killing him.

* * *

"Do you think you ever loved me?" she asked one day in a voicemail. He never picked up anymore, she noticed, and couldn't really blame him.

"Yes," he said aloud when he heard the recording of her voice on his phone before promptly deleting it.

* * *

In July, a rather small wedding was performed in celebration of Dell Honne and Lily Yoshida's marriage. A handful of guests came and a certain teal-haired woman only cried once in the back row as she held Gumi's hand, wishing on all the stars in the sky that Dell Honne would say "I do" to her instead of to Lily.

On December 24th of that same year, Miku Hatsune was killed by a drunk driver.

Dell decided it was the worst Christmas present ever and cried because of Miku Hatsune for the first time in years.

* * *

_It really wasn't fair that she died, you know? She tried so hard to be better. And she was better. Even though she knew I could never love her again, she knew that she could be better and that despite that, she was worth it. She was worth the effort of getting better. She was worth the blood, sweat, and tears she put into it. But what did it matter in the end?_

_It really wasn't fair that my Bubblegum Girl popped._


End file.
